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technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

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The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.

Deathspell Omega has continuously pushed the boundaries of extreme black metal since the release of their 3rd album, Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice. Doing away with much of the traditional black metal of their first 2 releases, they've become more progressive, discordant, and rhythmic in the way of fellow French black metallers--Blut Aus Nord.

Their latest effort, Veritas Diaboli Manet In Aeternum: Chaining The Kacheton continues the effort to push Deathspell Omega pass any extreme metal genre categorization. Consisting of a single 22 1/2 minute track, Deathspell Omega pulls no punches in delivering the goods. Starting out immediately with pounding blast beats and oddly-rhythmic riffs, Chaining The Katechon delivers a very melodic (but dark) chorus before finally slowing the pace to deliver a more typical, cold black metal riff. After a short interlude, the mayhem continues with a progressive edge. The cycle then continues back to more blast beats and discordant tones. Never letting up, this behemoth of a track could possibly be the best material that Deathspell Omega has to offer (to date), and sets the bar high for a new era of extreme black metal.

Gone are the days of the traditional lo-fi production techniques of black metal recording. Deathspell Omega proves that even with a crystal clear production, the value of good black metal is in the music, not the production.

True followers of Deathspell Omega will understand the direction of this CD, whereas new followers may not quite understand the power and direction of this type of extreme metal. However, if you are always eager to push the boundaries of your eardrums, then definitely pick up Chaining The Katechon - as it is the future of all extreme metal!